Mintel: Reward Cards Still Dominate

For the fifth month in a row, offers of credit cards with a reward program outnumber offers without one, according to data released yesterday from Mintel International Group's Comperemedia, a Chicago-based media monitoring system.

According to Mintel, mail volume for all acquisition offers in April was just over 325 million. Of that, 55 percent were for cards with a reward program, up 8 percent from last year.

One reason for the continued success of reward cards is that a growing number of investment firms are offering them, Mintel said.

"We suspect that more consumers are using their investments and savings to pay off high debt or for other expenses, which means that they are taking their money out of investments first and transferring it to credit card issuers," said Eva McLoughlin, lead research analyst at Comperemedia. "This has forced investment firms to realize that they have a gap in their service, and they are now offering credit cards in order to capture as many of their customers' financial transactions as possible."

Pricing of reward cards is similar to non-reward cards, with movement toward lower purchase go to rates. In the first quarter, just under 80 percent fell under 9.99 percent, Mintel said. Starting in November 2003, a larger percentage of cards has offered purchase go to rates under 7.99 percent, driven by MBNA offering 5.9 percent and 7.9 percent fixed rates on its Worldpoint Affinity cards, Mintel said.

Reward programs are growing more sophisticated in how they let customers redeem points. There is a trend toward longer-term rewards targeted to higher spenders that require more points, Mintel said, yet also more "immediate gratification rewards," geared toward lower spenders.

Next Article in Direct Mail

Sign up to our newsletters

Best of... Weekly

Daily Insider

Events Weekly

Hot List of the Day

Sponsored Promotion

Whitepaper of the Day

DMNTech Roundup

DMNTech Sponsored Promotion

Company of the Week

Brightcove is the world's leading video platform. The most innovative and respected brands confidently rely on Brightcove to solve their most demanding communication challenges because of the unmatched performance and flexibility of our platform, our global scale and reliability, and our award-winning service. With thousands of customers and an industry-leading suite of cloud video products, Brightcove enables customers to drive compelling business results.

Career Center

Check out hundreds of exciting professional opportunities available on DMN's Career Center.
Explore careers in digital marketing, sales, eCommerce, marketing communications, IT, data strategies, and much more. And don't forget to update your resume so employers can contact you privately about job opportunities.

Coverage

Resources

User Center

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorization.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of DMN's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.